Unforeseen Butterfly Effect
by SeeingToad
Summary: Stan Marsh wakes up one day in an alternate universe where the nine-tailed fox is sealed inside him. Meanwhile, Uzumaki Naruto wakes up in the same alternate world without the fox. Will things ever return to normal for Naruto and Stan? SLIGHT shounen-ai.
1. Prologue

Authors Note: This is my very first South Park fanfiction. I hope this holds your interest and, hopefully, my characterizations of South Park characters are not off. Don't forget to review if you liked it. Oh, and the title is subject to change. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own South Park or Naruto

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**Prologue**

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_December 21, 2012 -_

The paved streets of New York city, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities around the world were empty of pedestrians and traffic. No one travelled along these roads; the inhabitants of Earth having taken up the precaution of living in temporary underground bomb shelters. The same was true of the inhabitants of South Park Colorado.

The only person not given to the mass panic induced by ancient Mayan calendars was Stan Marsh. He was seated in the town gymnasium beside Kyle Broflovski, who, though being skeptical was also feeling the effects of the hysteria. The redhead looked calm but his hazel eyes were glued to the miniature television set Stan's dad had gotten hold of, and the news reporters.

At least he takes this better than Fatass, Stan thought.

Eric Cartman was sobbing and trembling like a glutinous blob of rotting Jell-O. Every now and then he would let out the annoyingly high pitched wail, "I don' wanna fucking diiiiiiiiiiieeee!"

Stan had tried to slap sense into the fat blubbering idiot, but Cartman continued to be a loud nuisance. "We're all gonna ! Kahl planned it all! !" Stan gripped the bridge of his nose and ground his teeth together. Not only was Cartman showing he had the backbone of a jellyfish, but had already added Kyle into the equation of the "Great Disaster of 2012."

"Shut the fuck up, Fatass!" Kyle and Stan both snapped at the same time. "We. Are. Not. Going. To. Fucking. Die!"

"Not going to die?!" someone repeated shrilly. It was Butter's mother. Though practically everyone else was wearing wild, feral expressions of animals knowing they were trapped, cornered, and ready to face a painful end, she was more so; her fingernails had been chewed until blood seeped from the fingertips, and occasionally her husband would violently shake her whenever she slipped into panic attacks. "We're all going to die!"

Her words were like a cue for Randy Marsh.

"We're all gonna die!" he cried out, making a show of waving his arms dramatically in the air. Stan hunched further to the ground. He wished he was completely invisible – his dad was making a complete fool of himself again and Stan would rather be somewhere else than around him.

"If we survive we'll end up as cannibals!" someone else said, and Stan recognized the voice of Mr. Garrison.

"Gyah! Cannibals?!" Tweak exclaimed. The blond-haired boy was twitching more spasmodically than usual and had fainted several times in the last half hour. Evidently the horror of their callous teacher's words had woke him up. Great.

"Don't worry, Tweak," his father said in a warm, comforting voice. "We'll probably eat you first so you won't have to suffer the horrible effects of fall-out."

How that was supposed to make him better, Stan had no idea. Tweak didn't seem very reassured by it; a squawk of horror escaped the boy's lips and he promptly fainted.

That did it. Stan had had enough of the stupidity of most of South Park inhabitants and stood to his short, stubby legs. "We're not going to die!"

But as soon as Stan said it, the earth rumbled and shook beneath his feet. On cue, the inhabitants of South Park ran around in panicked circles. Someone was repeating, "We're gonna die, we're gonna die," like a mantra. Kenny convulsed on the ground, clutching his chest, and then died.

"Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" Stan exclaimed out of habit.

"You bastards!" Kyle continued, also out of habit.

Stan wondered that, if everyone died, would everyone simply reappear like Kenny? Would everyone have another chance?

Then, all at once, something completely surreal and dreamlike happened. The air around Stan rippled like waves of the ocean, and then, mouth wide open in shock, he saw a stream of what looked like a fire burst from nowhere. He looked over at Kyle to see what his friends reaction was, but Kyle wasn't paying any attention. No one else was, for that matter. The only one who could see the bizarre fire was Stan.

The fire formed the head of a fox and then everything became stretched like taffy, intermixed, and then the world turned pitch black.

As the world literally fell apart around Stan, he felt he could hear the deep voice of someone talking angrily in Japanese:

"**Who the hell are you?!"**

Does he mean me? Stan lazily wondered, and then lost consciousness.

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_Five minutes earlier in another dimension,_

Pain. Uzumaki Naruto clutched his side in agony, feeling warm blood seep from the wound. His teammate, Sakura, lay limp on her stomach in the dirt, bloody steel spikes protruding from her back. Kakashi wasn't dead, yet, but with the amount of blood he was using, he would be.

"Do you see it, Naruto-kun? Do you see my way of reasoning?" the horribly calm voice of Uchiha Madara said. "Free will causes only pain, suffering, and war. When my plans come to fruition there will be no more free will; I will control everything and everyone. Wouldn't you like Sakura-chan to live, Naruto?"

Naruto coughed up blood. Why the hell wasn't the Kyuubi responding? He sure as hell had been active during Pain's invasion!

Everywhere around him, he could smell the stench of blood and hear the death gurgles of the fatally wounded. He knew, unlike the outcome of Pain's invasion, that there would be no merciful restoration of life from a repentant Uchiha Madara. Everyone who was dead were going to stay dead. In one long hour, most of Naruto's friends were either dead or critically injured.

"Na…ru…" Kakashi gasped, and then died.

For the first time in his life, he truly wanted to allow the Kyuubi to take control, to give into the black, boiling rage churning inside the recesses of his mind. Everything was death and decay. He wanted Madara to feel torturous agony before death, to savor the renegade Uchiha's death throes under the burning red chakra of a malevolent Kyuubi. A small part of Naruto felt fear over the graphic mental images and watched the Uzumaki Naruto of yesterday slip away. The ninja who never gives up was giving up? The shinobi who never wanted to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra was now craving it?

"The Kyuubi won't save you this time, of course. I can easily control him," Madara continued matter-of-factly.

Naruto lurched to his feet, swayed, and then darted clumsily toward the monster. The man had killed Sakura-chan, Kazekage Gaara, Sai, and Kakashi-sensei! This was too much. Eyes burning with tears of rage, Naruto formed a Rasengan and aimed it at Madara.

Madara's form flickered so that it looked like Naruto passed through him.

Madara's hands moved in a blur as he made signs. Naruto felt no fear; he had seen innocent villagers turn on each other for no apparent reason and had witnessed Sakura and Kakashi battle each other to the death. Anything more would be meaningless. If he died it would only be an end to the continual cycle of grief and madness that began with Sasuke's betrayal of Konoha.

"Cycle of the Other Worlds no Jutsu!" The black pinpoints of Uchiha Madara's sharingan merged with his pupil and then, his entire eye became pitch black. Naruto found he couldn't look away. A paralysis jutsu? "I've decided to make you see how different the world would be under my leadership," he said, "You should be glad I'm letting you see this!"

Madara's mask turned into a spinning vortex, the black hole for his one good eye becoming larger than Naruto's head.

Two things happened as Naruto was sucked into Madara's eye (or into the gateway of the other world). One thing that happened was the Kyuubi chakra was suddenly seeping from his skin as the seal suddenly disappeared. The other thing that happened was the Kyuubi suddenly took over Naruto's body completely, and ripped out Madara's heart.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was in complete pitch blackness of neither here, there, or anywhere. Then, he was suddenly overwrought in excruciating agony as the Kyuubi ripped out of his body. The pain was intense. And then silence and the knowledge Naruto was, for the first time since the day the Kyuubi was sealed into him, completely and utterly alone…

What the hell is happening?!

The darkness convulsed and then Naruto knew nothing more.


	2. Monster

A/N: This chapter was EXTREMELY fun to write. I don't believe I've ever enjoyed working on a story as much as I do this one. Please review if you like it or believe I could've touched things up better. Happy reading! :)

A/N 2: Every character in Stan's alternate world speaks Japanese because elements of Naruto and South Park have blended together. It only makes sense that Japanese would be the main language rather than English. At some point actual Japanese is spoken, but I did so because I was tired of having to put "said in Japanese" after everyone was talking. I may end up changing that part because I don't want to butcher the Japanese language. Hehehe.

Disclaimer: I don't own South Park or Naruto.

**Chapter One: Monster**

A pair of blue eyes fluttered open and Stan Marsh slowly sat upright in bed, removing his sheets. The world hadn't ended and everything had been a bad nightmare. It made sense that the whole thing was a dream because of the fire fox that had burst out from nowhere made no sense in real life. But he also felt really, really – _strange_ somehow. He felt physically taller, and there was something else about him that was drastically different.

It was still night, and he glanced at his Terrance and Philip clock to see the time. Or rather, where his Terrance and Philip clock _should _be. He stared in disbelief at the a simple flat and black digital clock that had taken its place. The walls of his room were different, too, in that there were no Terrance and Philip posters – or _any _posters. In some places the walls had deep grooves like the claw marks of a large, vicious, and rabid animal.

His room also consisted of very few toys, and he recognized none of the stuffed animals. Also, most were ripped in half and torn to pieces. The one whole toy, a red fox, was hanging morbidly from the window. Stan touched it and watched as it swayed on its makeshift noose, black button eyes staring creepily into space as it swung back and forth.

Feeling more than a little creeped out, Stan stood to his feet and crept out of his room to find the culprit. The only logical explanation, of course, was that someone had broke into his room, stolen his alarm clock, removed posters, and then had replaced all his toys with ones that were broken. It was probably Shelley. Leave it to his big sister to do something like this on top of constantly calling him a turd and beating him up. But, it really didn't feel like something Shelley would _do._

The only thing that greeted Stan when he walked out of his room was utter silence and emptiness. He slowly tiptoed downstairs, swallowing back his fear. The walls down here were torn in places, paint was peeling in various spots, and there were the same deep grooves from his room. The couch had a deep gash in it and yellow stuffing was coming out of it.

Stan ran to his parents room, heart hammering in his chest, and opened the door. Normally he would knock, but the situation called for more drastic measures. His blue eyes stared in disbelief and horror. His parents' bedroom was completely bare; there was no bed, dresser, or anything else in this room.

Feeling sick inside, he decided to try to see if he could find Shelley. She was hopefully sleeping in her room and would yell at him for bothering her. There would be nothing better at the moment than to hear her voice her annoyance; this was just too freaky to be a mere prank. Why would Mom and Dad be in on it, too?

He opened the door and walked inside his sister's room. Her room was the only one that didn't have large gashes in the walls and this one actually had a bed – that his sister was sleeping on. He hardly noticed how different the room was from normal; he simply felt extreme relief that Shelley was still in the same house.

"Shelley!" He shook her awake. "Something happened to Mom and Dad!" His voice sounded weird in that it was a little deeper.

Shelley opened her eyes. Stan half expected her to say something like, "Yeah, right, turd!"

Instead her brown eyes were haunted and filled with utter terror as she stared up at him. Had she witnessed what happened in the middle of the night? Did she know what happened to their parents?

"Shelley, what the hell happened?" he asked again.

"What do you want?" she asked warily in Japanese. T he only reason Stan understood her was because he had become fluent in Japanese during the Chinpokomon craze, and he had no idea _why_ she was speaking in Japanese.

"Something happened to Mom and Dad – everything's different. What happened?" Stan repeated. He had a bad feeling inside. This was his sister, but she was very different. For one thing, she spoke clearly and didn't have braces. Also, she wasn't snapping or barking at him. Instead this Shelley wasn't the person he remembered.

"Don't joke around – you killed them!"

Stan wordlessly stepped out of the room. Killed them? Why the hell would he kill their parents? The entire situation he was in felt either like a very cruel joke or a Twilight Zone episode. Everything was extremely surreal. There was no part of the house that felt the same as before. He felt different, too, somehow.

Stan didn't know how physically until he saw his face in the cracked bathroom mirror. There were six deep reddish black scars on his face like the whiskers of a feral animal. His eyes, too, had reddish black lines around them. His messy black hair only added to the animal-like characteristics. Also, the entire face didn't belong to an eight-year-old boy but someone at least twelve or thirteen years old.

He glanced down at his arms to see that they were no longer soft with baby fat but were hard and sinuous. Everything had changed about him. He was taller, stronger, and older, as though he had woke up in the future.

But tucked in the corner of the bathroom mirror was a picture of him, Shelley, and an adult he had never seen before. In the photograph, in this weird alternate universe, he was wearing the same brown coat, blue denim jeans, mittens, and blue poof ball hat he always wore. But his blue eyes were frigid, humorless, and too old for his scarred face. Shelley was smiling from beside the younger him in the photograph, but her smile was strained and forced. She was obviously leaning away from the grim version of Stan's alternate younger self.

_Man, this is pretty fucked up. I'm still asleep or I've gone insane. _Of course Stan was still asleep. As a rational thinker, he knew there was a logical explanation to this strange world. There had to be; no one simply woke up in different realities, right?

Sharp pain ripped through his head like the most painful headache he had ever experienced and he doubled over, gasping and almost knocking his forehead against the sink. What the --?!

_**"Baka gaki! Sore wa yume ja nai!"**_ a deep, menacing voice rumbled. _Stupid boy! This isn't a dream!_ The voice was the same one he had heard before this dream. It dripped with malevolent venom of someone who obviously wanted nothing more than to rip him to shreds, and the owner of the voice's presence was letting him know it as the pain in Stan's head increased.

The pressure gradually let up and Stan slowly stood up straight. He had been abducted by aliens (but so had Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny), trapped in Imagination Land, watched a close childhood friend get raped by George Lucas, had seen Kenny die (but that was a hardly traumatic occurrence save that one time) over and over again – but nothing from what seemed out of the _Exorcist. _

During events that made sense there was one person Stan would go to, and that was Kyle. Kyle was likely trapped in this strange world, too, and together they would find a way out of this mess. Cartman and Kenny probably were too, but Stan wasn't very close to those two. Especially Cartman.

Stan walked back to what was now his room, searching for a coat to wear. His closet was barren of normal clothes. There were all sorts of patched bulletproof vests, fishnet undershirts, and a few threadbare Gothic jackets with Japanese kanji scrawled over them ("Death" and "Revenge" were probably one of them – Stan could speak Japanese but couldn't read it); but nothing he would normally wear. For safety's sake, just because this alternate reality was unpredictable, he slipped on a bulletproof vest. In the back of the closet, he could see his favorite brown coat; it had torn in some places and haphazardly patched as though the person fixing it could care less about what it looked like. It looked like something had splashed on it in the front, and Stan took a closer look at it. It was covered in blood.

Swallowing, he pushed the coat away to find something else to wear. Though he considered himself far from being a Goth pussy, he decided to wear one of the Gothic jackets because there was nothing else. If he stayed in this world any longer he would definitely buy better clothes.

If a normal coat was hard to find, so were pants and boots. The only good pants were ones that cut off mid-calf like feminine capris, and the only good shoes looked like a hybrid of sandals and sneakers. The boots were open toed, too, and wouldn't do much good against the cold elements of South Park. The only article of clothing he wore from his own reality was the blue hat.

Once dressed, he took a step outside to find Kyle's house. The houses of South Park were still flat, drab, and for all external appearances just how he remembered them. On the other hand, in the background were tall skyscrapers and large electronic billboards with Japanese hiragana scrawling across them, advertising everything from graphic comics to fruit blenders. There were also more people walking the streets than should be out at this time of night.

Once he stepped onto the street, the crowd parted. People old and young stared at him with eyes of revulsion, hate, and terror. Stan shivered. No one had ever looked at him like that. Sure, sometimes he pissed people off, but these looked like they would like him _dead_. The animosity rolling off the crowd was tangible and suffocating.

"The K-Kyuubi kid! Let's try not to make him mad!" someone whispered. In Japanese, of course.

"Shut up – It'll hear you!" a man beside that person said.

Stan ended up running the rest of the way to his friend's house. Hopefully Kyle hadn't changed, either. There was nothing more that Stan wanted than to be with someone who wasn't going to treat him like a dangerous animal. Even Cartman would be a better option than Shelley and those people. Cartman hated pretty much everyone, but at least not to _that _extent.

One the way there, he felt like he was being followed closely, but ignored the feeling.

Once at Kyle's house, he was relieved to see the lights were still on. Kyle was still awake, then.

Stan knocked on the door, taking a quick glance back at the people who were still staring at him with those cold eyes. He couldn't stand it. The sooner he talked with Kyle the better.

The door cracked open and a thin red haired boy he barely recognized as Kyle answered. This Kyle didn't wear a green ushanka, orange coat, or anything similar. Instead he wore a midriff baring dark purple halter top and gray knee-length shorts. In place of the ushanka was a blue sash tied around the boy's forehead with a metal plate in the center. The right side of his face was scarred up, and his eyes had the expression of someone who had been through hell and lived through it all. In the safe world of play pretend, Stan would've thought Kyle looked cool. But then they would stop playing pretend and be little boys and friends again.

Kyle's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do _you_ want?" Japanese. Didn't anyone speak _English_ in this alternate universe?

"I wanted to talk to you because you're my friend…" Stan said weakly, then trailed off at the chilling expression on Kyle's face.

"Friend?" Kyle snorted. "Why the hell would I want to be _friends_ with a monster like you? You've caused me nothing but misery!"

"But we"—

In that moment a brown haired boy dropped _literally _between Stan and Kyle with a light _thunk!_ This person was wearing a maroon jumpsuit and had a thick metal rod strapped to his back. He was a good few inches taller than both Stan and Kyle, and his shoulders were broad. He was too thin to be Cartman.

"What do you want with Kyle-kun?" the boy drawled, looking down at Stan with narrowed amber eyes. It really was Cartman after all.

"Look, Eric, I can handle it!" Kyle said, but he looked relieved. Stan's heart sank. Relieved because he wanted nothing to do with him. Relieved that Cartman was going to protect him from the "monster." His stomach churned with nausea from the growing pain.

"Why are you here, anyway?" he heard Kyle say as though from far away.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep and noticed the Kyuubi-kid was heading for your place." Cartman yawned, his brown eyes never leaving Stan.

The sick darkness evolved to anger. "I wasn't going to do anything to him! You fucking assholes! We've been friends since kindergarten. We used to fucking do everything together! All I know is I woke up in this stupid fucking dimension where everyone hates me!" The more angry, Stan felt, the more the thing living inside him grew excited.

He wanted to beat up Kyle and Cartman both for being so stupid, but the creature's excitement was over something much darker. And it was quickly taking him over. Stan had never been part of a mental battle before, so nothing prepared him for the burning white pain as his will and control was violated. _**"Leave this to me, brat," **_the creature whispered almost sweetly, _**"I'll make them suffer!"**_

The creature's rage and bloodlust flooded Stan Marsh's normally rational mind until there was no Stan left. This evil thing was taking his place and growing more powerful by the second, blood red strands of energy bubbled around Stan's body, intermixing with droplets of his blood from peeling skin. Two tails, lumpy and bubbling with the red-hot evil energy, unfurled from his backside.

Stan felt like throwing up from both the pain and strong alien desire to disembowel his two friends. They hated him. Why should he care?

An alarm blared and thick metal walls rolled up from underground as shields for the houses around him. Screaming, the people who had been watching the unfolding battle ran to cover. The Kyuubi snarled, red eyes glaring at the thick plates. Those bastards wouldn't know what hit them the day they ever forgot those shields. But first… he turned his head to smile sinisterly at the two young shinobi staring at him with horror.

He decided to go for the small one first, his red arm stretching, claws out to tear him apart. His claws impacted the boy's skin, but the boy disappeared in a puff of white smoke. A clone?!

"Now Eric!" Kyle shouted.

Cartman nodded grimly, whipping out the black metal rod strapped to his back. He opened it, revealing that it was a giant metal fan with the words "Uchihas Suck Ass!" scrawled across it in crude hiragana. He ducked behind it as the Kyuubi sent an inferno of powerful chakra his direction. It barely dented the fan.

So this boy was a wind-user, eh? Too bad he was an eyesore compared to Temari. The Kyuubi roared in defiance. They were incredibly stupid to think he would be brought down by a little wind.

Cartman swung the fan, wind sharpened by chakra cutting past the Kyuubi, blowing away streams of bubbling chakra. But, aside from being a nuisance, the Kyuubi knew very well the wind wouldn't kill him.

"Stop! I'll take care of it!" an all too familiar voice said. A piece of paper was slapped to the Kyuubi host's forehead. The Kyuubi recognized the pair of bright blue eyes staring down at him and the spiky blond hair and snarled weakly as he was being forced away from the control of his new host.

"Who are you?" Kyle asked.

The blond stranger smiled, but with daggers in his eyes.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

_A/N: I was really afraid of making Kyle and Cartman TOO uber-powerful and cool. And how were they going to stop the Kyuubi, anyway? Oh, the reddish brown circles around Stan's eyes are more like the sort Naruto gets whenever the Kyuubi is taking over him - not like Gaara._


	3. Intruder!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or South Park.

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**Intruder!**

When Naruto opened his eyes he was laying on his back in the dirt, grasses crushed underneath him. What was he doing here? His head was throbbing in pain, and his whole body felt like a massive battle had took place. The pain made him remember. The Kyuubi had been extracted from him inside Madara's genjutsu and for some strange reason Naruto was still _alive._

Without Kyuubi inside him, he felt… _empty._

Naruto climbed slowly to his feet, taking a quick glance at his surroundings. The trees were evergreens – Konoha had deciduous trees - and the ground was patched with snow. Had Madara used a transportation jutsu on him to send him to the Snow Country? But this didn't feel at all like the Snow Country at all; in the distance he could make out pinpoints of light and a thick steel wall surrounding a futuristic sprawling city. Even from far away he could tell the buildings were blocky and oddly _flat_ in appearance, unlike those of the Snow Country.

_If this is a genjutsu it's a pretty good one, _he surmised, lips compressing tightly together. The Kyuubi had inexplicitly managed to killed Madara while being trapped in a paralysis jutsu; it didn't make sense at all that Naruto would be stuck in the jutsu still. With Madara dead the technique should have been dispelled. So why was he still there and why was he now an ex-Jinchuuriki?

Naruto molded chakra to the soles of his feet and used the pent up energy to make a single bound leap into the top of a chosen evergreen. For a moment he contemplated on what to do; should he wait to see if there were other ninjas sent to this place, or should he try to make sense of everything by going to that flat city? While Naruto wasn't the smartest shinobi in the world, he was smarter than what most people thought.

"Kagebunshin no jutsu!"

A shadow clone appeared beside him in a puff of white smoke. Naruto hadn't realized just how much he relied on the Kyuubi's chakra until after the technique was carried out; it felt like he had made fifty clones than just one clone! A grim realization came to him – if he had to fight anyone he wouldn't be as strong as usual. Also, if he was injured in battle he no longer had the Kyuubi to heal him.

"Look for Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei," he ordered the shadow clone. It nodded, unsmiling, and headed off in the opposite direction.

Naruto made the fast decision of heading toward civilization, hoping it was the smart thing to do. It was unlikely the entire city would be against one person, and there were some things that needed to be answered, and the person that held the answer (or the place that held the answer) was possibly that city.

Halfway there he had to run on the strange black road leading to the double gates because the trees became too sparse. Occasionally a large moving, bulky metal object would zoom past him. Naruto was reminded of small, compact versions of the trains he had seen at the Snow Country. Which had been scary in themselves. Despite trying to believe they probably wouldn't harm him, Naruto sprinted a good ten yards parallel to the road.

When he stopped in front of the gates he expected to see a set of guards on the outside. Instead he saw nothing but two rectangular panel with little white buttons underneath on both sides of the gates. One of the mechanical vehicles rolled to a stop in front of the gates and a man stepped out, cigarette drooping from the corner of his mouth, and carrying a red and black card in one hand. Naruto watched as the man inserted the card in a black slot somewhere underneath the panel and clumsily pushed some buttons.

The man stepped back into his vehicle, the great doors slowly opened, and then he was driving inside the metal doors. The doors were slow in opening and in closing. Slipping through them should be incredibly easy. Anyone could sneak in; there weren't any guards and the gates were slow.

Naruto kept his chakra levels down and followed behind the man's vehicle. Or, he _attempted _to do so; white hot bolts of chakra enhanced electricity knocked him back a good meter. _Damn it!_ There were _two _gates. One was the steel one and the other was a chakra sensor. To go through both one must first disable the chakra sensor.

Or he could simply climb over it.

Smiling smugly, Naruto ran back to the gate, sent chakra coiling into the soles of his feet, leapt – and fell like a rock to the ground. Groaning, he glared up at the wall. Now there was another obstacle to overcome; the metal was made of chakra repellent material. Using a Rasengan against it wouldn't do any good. There had to be a weakness in it _somewhere_.

Naruto almost made the hand signals to produce an army of shadow clones, but remembered – he didn't have the same amount of stamina. Doing something that big would only slow him down. It meant he had to come up with a plan, which could take a very long time because, while he wasn't a retarded idiot, he still didn't have Shikamaru's brilliance. Damn it!

He stood in front of the metal doors for little while longer, concentrating as though the doors would magically open by will power alone, blond brows furrowing. Then, sudden realization occurred to him. _This better work!_

Naruto went through familiar hand signs and produced one shadow clone. He wordlessly held his hand out, still staring at the gate as he formed a Rasengan with the clone's help. He knew this wasn't going to be a quiet break in, but it couldn't be helped.

The clone disappeared with a _poof _and Naruto rammed the spinning blue Rasengan into one of the panels. Again Naruto was repelled, but it was much weaker in this area. He pushed further, gritting his teeth together. It was like trying to push back a pair of yoked oxen, but it could be done with help. Naruto let himself be pushed away. This time the gate repelled him away violently, mirroring the turbulence of the Rasengan. Naruto slammed hard into the ground, his body leaving a deep furrow in the dirt from the impact. He groaned and stood up determinedly on wobbly legs. At least now he knew what to do.

"Tajuu kagebunshin no jutsu!"

He formed another Rasengan through the help of a shadow clone, and together the clones pushed against the panel, Rasengan swirling in the palm of his hand. It made contact with the metal surface, and then, in a flourish of sparks and smoke blue white chakra lightning danced over the gate as the chakra sensors overloaded. In a burst of bright cracking light the gate slowly rolled open a few feet. Naruto darted inside, the clones dispersing immediately. So much for trying to keep low!

Before anyone could see him, he leapt to the top of a house to stay out of sight. Of course, he was sill noticeable, but if he kept his chakra down he should be able to make it to the center of the sprawling city. He could hear commotion over the broken gate. From the sound of it they were obviously none too happy about it.

Abruptly, Naruto felt a disturbingly familiar chakra. Startled, he stopped mid step, and tried to find it. The Kyuubi was in this city, and its presence was very prominent. Even the lowest Genin should be able to sense something of that magnitude.

He leaped onto another rooftop, trying to locate where it was coming from, when the corner of Temari's fan caught his eye. Temari? She was here?

But instead he saw a bulky male Genin carrying something that looked like Temari's fan, crouching down on pudgy legs. The young boy looked like he was trying to be stealthy, but to Naruto he was sticking out. Below them, on the streets, a young boy wearing a knit winter cap was running through the streets, familiar whiskers on his face. Naruto clenched his fists together as he watched the reactions the crowds below had toward the kid. He was no longer a Jinchuuriki, but now someone else was, and Naruto understood emphatically how it felt to be treated like something other than human. He re-focused his attention on the fat Genin, who sprinted forward to hop and run across the rooftops, running parallel to the Kyuubi's new host.

Naruto followed both of them, staying behind a good distance so that his presence wouldn't be noticed. But with the obvious way the fat Genin was following the Jinchuuriki, Naruto didn't know if such precaution was necessary; the quiet, yet still audible, _thunk-tap-tap-tap-thunk! _ of the Genin's feet hitting the shingled rooftops was almost comical. This child also didn't know how to suppress his chakra intensity; anyone who was skilled in sensing chakra would notice him.

The same clumsy Genin stopped, crouching low to the ground, still unaware of Naruto's presence and that his own "stealth" was laughable. Naruto watched, from a safe distance behind the Genin, the Kyuubi host down below. The child was knocking on someone's door. The door opened and a red haired ninja answered it. Naruto couldn't catch what the Kyuubi's host was saying because it was in a foreign language, but he heard all too clearly what the redheaded brat was saying: _"Friend? Why the hell would I want to be friends with a monster like you? You've caused me nothing but misery!" _

Naruto grit his teeth together, hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. Those cold stares, those hard words – no one had any right to treat anyone that way, regardless whether they were Jinchuuriki or not! Inside, he felt an understanding ache. How could anyone be so callous?!

The fat Genin trailing the boy jumped neatly between him and the redheaded boy. Naruto saw him turn his head around to coolly glare at the Kyuubi host. "What do you want with Kyle-kun?" he drawled out, eyes narrowing.

"Look, Eric, I can handle it!" the redhead, Kyle, responded. There was relief in his voice. Naruto narrowed his eyes. For the most part the boy had done absolutely _nothing _wrong.

The Jinchuuriki responded in a torrent of foreign words that Naruto couldn't understand, and then clutched the side of his head, crying out in terror, rage, and revulsion as a bubbling cocoon of red chakra formed ominously around his small body.

Naruto watched in horror as three tails sprouted from the Jinchuuriki's body. The seal was precariously weak! Quickly, remembering his training Jiraiya and about how to make seals, he whipped a scroll out of his pouch and hurriedly made one. It was the same type that Kakashi had used for him when he had gone into the Kyuubi state during the mission to save Gaara.

Alarms sounded, and tall metal walls slid upwards from the ground to shield the houses, as a _fourth _tail unfurled. Before a wall could slide all the way up and block Naruto from saving everyone, he did a somersault over the accelerating thick sheet of protective metal and landed on the ground, seal in hand. He noticed the two shinobi were getting ready to fight the Kyuubi. Were they suicidal?! While he didn't remember the exact details, he had nearly succeeded in killing _Orochimaru_ in the four-tailed state. Those two Genin were dead unless he acted _fast_!

The fat Genin clumsily unfurled his fan (the words _Uchihas Suck Ass_ sent a measure of hope in Naruto that he would find someone here from his own world) and sent a volley of chakra sharpened wind toward the threatening chakra of the Kyuubi host. The brown haired Genin pulled his fan back again to send another volley of sharp wind.

"Stop! I'll take care of it!" Naruto shouted, ducking under deadly strands of chakra to slap the seal against the writhing red forehead. The Kyuubi's eyes were wide with shock. _**"You!"**_ it growled, and made a weak attempt to attack him as the red chakra gradually dissipated.

"Who the hell are _you?"_ the redhead – Kyle – demanded.

Naruto flashed him a wide grin, but he made sure it wasn't a friendly one.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

The two Genin stared at him as though he had grown two heads or had fused with the Kyuubi as they watched him. Naruto ignored them both as he caught the Kyuubi host in his arms and gently lowered him to the ground. He examined the boy's chakra burns, wishing he had Sakura's medical skills. Even though this boy was unconscious, his face was twisted in horrible pain. The red blotches were slowly receding; the Kyuubi was healing him, but the boy was still in pain. In the streets the alarm stopped blaring and the metal shields slid slowly back to their places beneath the ground, the Kyuubi host stabilized enough so that the city was safe again.

"He needs a medic!" Naruto said. The two Genin responded by standing their ground.

"Why should we listen to _you_?" the brown-haired Genin – _Eric_ – demanded, folding his arms across his chest. "Since when does anyone care what happens to that freak? Everyone'd be happier to see him _dead_. I know _I _would – that monster's too dangerous!"

Naruto recalled words that he had heard long ago from Gaara:

"…_I was the village's trump card, but… at the same time I was also a very dangerous being…"_

"_For the last six years, since I was six, my own father has tried countless times to assassinate me!"_

"_Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I thought about this I could find no answer."_

This inhabitants of this city was making the same mistake Sunagakure did with Gaara, who had suffered even more than Naruto. With the way everyone treated the boy laying unconscious on the ground, Naruto believed he might decide to take up similar ideology.

"You..." Naruto began, pulling his thoughts back to the present, "How can you say that?! How can you say that to someone who never chose to be a Jinchuuriki in the first place?!" His body shook with emotion. "You…I will never forgive you!"

"What makes you think I give a shit about something lame like that?" Eric retorted. "Unless you think I'm just a big boned pussy." He sneered and swung his giant fan back, preparing for battle.

Naruto didn't really want to fight them. No matter how much he wanted to, he knew he had already caused enough of a stir; killing two Genin was too low and he would never stoop to that level.

"Cartman! What the fuck are you doing?!" Kyle demanded. "He managed to invade South Park undetected and now you want to fight him?!"

"Yeah," Eric drawled, "this bastard's underestimating our abilities because we're Genin." He grinned, feral, a lethal spark of unholy joy in his brown eyes that would've made Orochimaru proud. "Let's do this!"

Kyle nodded, deciding to go along with his friend (though Naruto now believed they were teammates) and began making hand signs for a fire jutsu.

"_Katon! Goukakyu no jutsu!"_

Naruto scooped the unconscious Kyuubi host in his arms and leaped out of the way, the heat from the large fireball singing his back. With that came the realization - these aren't ordinary Genin! He clambered up a wall of a tall building, still carrying the boy, blue eyes looking back at Eric Cartman, who was sending a blast of cutting wind from one swing of his fan.

Wind techniques and fire… Didn't Kakashi-sensei say something about that mix?

_Shit!_

Naruto jumped aside as the volley of flames intensified in a spectacular show of roaring orange and red fanning into different directions, blocking all routes to escape! He should've used a Kagebunshin; he was being extremely reckless in this world!

A tall figure jumped passed Naruto, and then, a shield popped into existence. The flames licked harmlessly on the sides before dying out. Naruto stopped in his tracks to see who this person was, and was greeted by none other than someone chillingly familiar. All memories of the Chuunin exams, Sasuke's betrayal, and those reptilian eyes came back at Naruto.

He was _dead_. Sasuke had _killed_ him.

But there he stood, his long, raven black hair waving in the night wind.

Orochimaru.

"What are you doing?" the Sannin demanded. "People could have died!"

"But, Sensei, there was an intruder and," – Cartman began.

"Do you think that really excuses everything?" Orochimaru demanded.

Naruto felt chills listening, but the more he listened, the more he recognized that this Orochimaru was different from the last one. He just sounded… responsible. Not at all like the cruel snake Sannin who would sacrifice people to meet his own goals. Then again, how did Naruto know he wasn't just _pretending _to be responsible over a team of Genin?

"But, Seeeensei!" Naruto heard Cartman drawl out in an annoying high pitched whine. "Seeeeeeeriously! "

"Orochimaru-sensei, that person defended the Kyuubi-kid – he's crazy!" Kyle said.

_If sensibility makes one crazy then I must be in hysterics_, Naruto wryly thought. He knew he should be running to somewhere where his presence wasn't so obvious, but found himself curious about their conversation.

Orochimaru paused. "And he was absolutely correct."

_Huh?!_

Things couldn't have been anymore twisted; Orochimaru was on Naruto's side.

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A/N: I am sooo happy with this chapter. I've never had Naruto as a primary character in a fanfiction, and to be honest writing him was a lot of fun. So hopefully he's in character! I also enjoyed working with Kyle and Cartman (I really tried to make them sound a little like the original SP characters. In the last chapter they didn't sound much like themselves, so I think this chapter is better than the last one in that way).


	4. A Jinchuuriki's Promise

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. Hopefully, my take on SP characters aren't TOO far off (a little OOC-ness is guarranteed because it IS an AU/x-over). Please remember to review! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or South Park.

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**A Jinchuuriki's Promise**

Orochimaru's words incited a period of silence. Both Kyle and Cartman wore on their faces shock that their sensei would stoop so low, and Naruto was still absorbing the fact this Orochimaru either had a sinister plot planned, or had genuine compassion over the Kyuubi-host. After all the horrible things the snake Sannin had done throughout the years in the world Naruto had come out of, this person was a complete stranger. He probably wasn't even a Sannin.

Orochimaru turned his sickly pale face toward Naruto, the corners of his thin, wide mouth pulled down into a frown. "Why do you, an intruder, feel so strongly about Stan Marsh?" he asked.

Naruto wasn't sure if it would be a smart idea to tell the tall Jounin. If Naruto's own timeframe and world had been one chaotic, this one was more so. This place didn't feel _right_, yet it wasn't a genjutsu – like two separate worlds that shouldn't be together had been melded into one. So should Naruto really risk telling Orochimaru that he came from another dimension wherein he was Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki? That he understood so strongly what it felt to be ostracized and labeled a monster by those who didn't even try to understand?

"Well?"

Naruto's gaze travelled down to the boy he carried in his arms. The raw, bleeding flesh had healed and now there were a few red blotches on his neck and cheek. A scrawny pale finger twitched, yet he was still unconscious. In that moment, Uzumaki Naruto knew what he had to do. If this was somehow _his _fault…

"If I told you I was from an alternate world, would you believe me?" he asked. He looked back up at Orochimaru, eyes hardened. "Or that I was once the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki?"

From across his sensei, Eric Cartman released a contemptuous snort. "Of course we don't believe you – you're fucking insane!" Then, as though to show just how sane _he_ was, he reached behind his back, gripping the steel fan, positioning his body into a fighting stance. Even though their sensei had interfered and was questioning Naruto, the latter knew this guy wouldn't hesitate to fight. Something was extremely off about him.

From beside him, Kyle reached out to touch his arm. "Cartman, this guy is"-

Cartman yanked his arm away, and made an attempt to kick his teammate away, which only resulted in him tripping over his own feet and falling on his own face. He groaned in pain, raising his head, but a blur of soft blue and deep purple collided against him, a foot knocking his face back to the ground. "Oof! Get…off…me…you…stupid…b--!"

The foot on Cartman's head belonged to a muscular kunoichi, her eyes narrowed in a glare. Before he could finish his last word, she responded by slamming her foot down on his head again, the force enough to throw chunks of roof shingles everywhere. She reached down, yanked on the hitai-ite wrapped around his neck, jerking his head up so that he was looking at her. "Cartman, you idiot! What were you thinking by fighting against an intruder?! It should be handled by our Anbu!"

The redheaded Genin watched them, looking more aggravated than alarmed by the violence both of his teammates were displaying. He had obviously seen this type of thing happen many times.

"You mean those fucking idiots who always get killed for shitty reasons?" Cartman responded to the kunoichi's statement, completely ignoring Kyle. "Wow, I should _so_ let them take care of things like this – after all, they are--!"

The angry kunoichi whispered in a low voice, almost a growl, "What was that?" and pulled back her fist, ready to pound sense into her sarcastic teammate.

Cartman paled, knowing all too well the power behind that fist. "Nothing, Wendy-chan."

His teammate released him and stepped back, arms folded across her chest. "Good."

_Just like Sakura-chan, _Naruto thought, and his gut twisted. Sakura-chan – if he could only find a way out of this place. Though he hadn't been in this alternate universe for long, he didn't want to remain there for a longer amount of time. He missed _his _world, a world where shinobi had sensible, easy to pronounce names (like "Sasuke"), and a place where he would always be with his teammates.

Cartman's words broke him out of his internal reverie: "Stupid bitch." Wendy's eyes flashed and she lunged toward him, ready to send him flying backwards with a well-aimed kick, but Kyle chose in that moment to restrain her by wrapping his arms around her arms and waist. "Cut it out!"

Orochimaru rubbed his forehead between thumb and forefinger, looking extremely tired of his team's behavior. He raised an arm. Two large olive-green snakes slithered rapidly out of his sleeves, and wrapped themselves around his team of Genin. Cartman grumbled a few choice profanities, still glaring at his female teammate, who was returning it with equal amounts of animosity.

"But, Seeeeensei," Cartman dragged out, "that bitch started it!"

"I don't care _who_ started it! All of you are staying that way until you learn the meaning of the term 'teamwork' – something you should've known since leaving the Academy, even if I have to squeeze you to death," Orochimaru icily stated.

"Ay!" Cartman exclaimed, squirming in attempts to be freed from the snake. "Get me outta here!" The snake's tail curled around his mouth, covering it and cutting off his voice.

The pale Jounin turned back around to face Naruto.

"If you provide evidence that you're from another world, I'll believe you," he said. "If you can't bring evidence, _I will kill you." _The threat came out as a hiss.

"Mmmmf! Mmmmf…mf!" Cartman exclaimed, suddenly excited. Kyle and Wendy exchanged worried glances.

"No. You can't kill him, Eric," Orochimaru said in the tired voice of someone who was fighting a long battle and was slowly giving up. He muttered something under his breath along the lines of, "I don't know what to do with him."

"I'll definitely bring evidence; you can count on it!" Naruto said, smiling, yet it never reached his eyes. Unless there was someone else from his world who had fallen into this place somehow, then there would be nothing to count as evidence. To Orochimaru's eyes, he really was just an intruder with a soft spot for this village's Jinchuuriki – the Sannin (or was he a Sannin) at least was giving him the benefit of a doubt. And, even if Naruto couldn't find evidence to back up his words, Naruto would still find a way to make the villagers of this place understand what they were doing to Stan.

In Naruto's arms, the new (at least, new to Naruto) Jinchuuriki stirred, muttering something with his eyes still closed. Naruto didn't know what he said (it was that same foreign language he had heard earlier), but it was spoken like a plea for help. His dark eyelids twitched and then he cracked his eyes open, gazing up at Naruto with tired confusion. "Who…?" he stated, this time in Japanese.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself, setting the boy on the ground.

The boy stared up, dark-ringed blue eyes absorbing his surroundings. His eyes were glazed with the expression of someone who wanted very badly to believe he was dreaming. He stood up, flinched in agony from the residual Kyuubi chakra in the soles of his feet, and collapsed with a soft thump on the ground.

Stan had hoped it was a nightmare and he would awake in his bed. But no such luck – Cartman and Kyle were looking at him with those cold stares again. Wendy was barely recognizable from beside them. Her black hair was cut short, spiky, and she no longer covered it with a hat. She wore a black, tight shirt with mesh underneath that had seen its share of battles, and deep burgundy shorts that were torn around the edges. He couldn't imagine the Wendy he remembered to wear anything like it; yet here she stood, a battle hardened soldier just like Kyle and Cartman. _What the hell happened to my girlfriend?_

"What the fuck happened?" Stan murmured to himself, looking past them. Why was everything so messed up? Who was that pale stranger with the creepy eyes? Stabbing pain tore through his skull as the presence of that _thing_ became prominent. He held his head in his hands, losing the capacity to swallow properly – saliva spilling down his chin, touching the ground in a long string. Burning heat was bubbling inside him, the intensity causing him to fall forward on his face, still clutching his head.

**A weakling like **_**you **_**would never understand the reason!**

_I'm in hell._

**That's right, brat. Ever since I've been sealed into you, your life is now hell. Do you know why? You are easily manipulated by the memories of the friends you once had. Your body, remembering that other world, and your pathetic excuse for friends, cannot adjust to my chakra.**

_Why am I the one? Why not Cartman?_

**A stupid question from a stupid kid. I would **_**love **_**to rip you apart and skin you alive, but because of this horrible bond I suddenly not share with you, if you die, I also will die, **the Kyuubi admitted in a snarl. As his presence faded to the further reaches of Stan's psyche, he caught the barely audible admission of, **I wish it had been Cartman; you lack the inner rage which continually smolders within his black heart.**

A hand touched his shoulder and he flinched away from it. Now that he was back with the present, he could sense the eyes on him again. He clenched his hands into fists at his sides and sat back up, glaring up at what he thought would be the icy stare of his once best friend Kyle. Instead, he stared into a pair of startlingly sympathetic blue eyes. Naruto. Someone actually sympathized with him in this fucked up world?

"Are you all right?" Naruto asked, reaching a hand out to hold him up, but brought it to a stop as he thought against it. "I'm going to find a way to get you out of here. I promise," he continued when Stan said nothing. Stan had heard many promises in his lifetimes from Cartman, who had sounded trustworthy, until each promise had been broken with thoughtless ease. But it was somehow hard to imagine this stranger breaking his promise so flippantly.

"Stay away from Marsh!" the pale man ordered. "If you even _think _about taking South Park's greatest weapon, I will kill you." The threat wasn't empty – a spindly fingered hand dipped from behind his back where a firearm was attached, and the tangible killing intent was strong enough to make Stan vomit. He half expected the blond stranger to feel the same, but the boy stood perfectly unfazed.

"A weapon, huh? That's how you really think of him?" Stan heard him say. "I thought you, of all people, understood…"

"I understand, yes, that Stan shouldn't be viewed as the Kyuubi itself, but that doesn't make him less of a weapon. All shinobi are tools to be used on missions, after all; nothing more. And Stan belongs to South Park – not your naïve little idealistic world," the pale man continued, narrowing snake-like eyes. "If you thought I was on your side, you were very wrong. I'll say it again - if you try to steal our weapon, I will not hesitate to destroy you. Personally."

Stan watched the man's snake-like eyes gleam wildly as his thin mouth (one too wide for his face) curved into a polite smile, and shivered. He knew this guy wasn't making meaningless threats; Stan had lived in South Park long enough to know when someone was serious. South Park, despite being a small town, had a higher amount of violent, gory deaths from freak accidents than any other small towns. This alternate world was no different in that aspect.

He watched the angry blond, whose fists were clenched at his sides. "If it means taking him away from a disgusting bastard like you I'll take that risk!"

"_I'm going to get you out of here. I promise." _

What made this Naruto so reckless and adamant that he would risk his life for Stan Marsh, once a nobody in a small redneck town of Colorado, and now a demon possessed child? Was he the only one in this godforsaken universe where everyone spoke Japanese and where ninjas lived and fought in South Park, that actually saw him and not the fox? They were friends?

"You…" Stan croaked out, standing on wobbly legs. The last ordeal with Kyuubi had successfully zapped what little strength he had carried. Somehow, he managed to stand without his legs crumbling out from under him, panting with the exertion. He kept his eyes on the blond, quizzical. "Do I… know you?"

"He's an intruder, Stan-kun. You should know this - unless, of course, you're a traitor," the pale man said, giving Stan a charming, yet feral, smile. "But that's unlikely, isn't it…"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and don't ever forget it, Orochimaru!" the blond young man said, grinning with equal ferocity. The tension between the two shinobi was thick, and killing intent rolled off both of them in sickening waves. The only reason Stan didn't feel sick was because the Kyuubi's intent had far surpassed them both.

The thick bodies of the snakes wrapped tightly around Cartman, Kyle, and Wendy unwound and slithered back up Orochimaru's sleeves. Stan cringed; he hated snakes, and everything about this person down to those slithering _things _was coldblooded and sneaky like one. Orochimaru's cool, reptilian eyes flitted directly at him, smiling with amusement at his discomfort.

Naruto wanted to beat the snake Sannin where he stood, but knew the stakes were highly stacked against him. He didn't have the Kyuubi; the chakra supply he was used to always carrying was severely depleted. Because of this, at the most he could use shadow clones, but he would also have to deal with other shinobi from this village. He had certainly caused enough of a stir for highly skilled Jounins to keep a close eye on him. If he attempted to use too many techniques at once the odds against him would be too many.

Abruptly, as he stood with fists clenched at his sides, trying to make a decision, the shadow clone he had set out earlier to find Sakura and Kakashi disappeared, sending him its memories of who it had seen. There had been no mistaking _who_ it had seen. Hope welled up inside Naruto. Of all the people he knew was out there, he was glad to know Gaara was there.

_He's coming here. _Naruto almost felt like laughing from the relief that washed over him. Gaara was very strong – with his abilities and Naruto's combined they could safely rescue Stan Marsh from the idiots of this village. Together they could easily reverse the situation. In that case, Naruto knew he had to stall. Other than teaming up with Gaara or someone else, there was no realistic way he could win against Orochimaru. Also, he had seen the damage Wendy had done from the rooftop; her super human strength reminded him of Sakura, and so he wouldn't want to take punches from her.

Orochimaru's vest suddenly burst with tinny jingles. The man snorted and reached a hand into one of the compartments, slipping out a small, flat black thing. Naruto had no idea what it was, but when the Sannin held the thing to his ear, he understood it was some sort of radio.

"What is it, sir?" Orochimaru asked the person on the other end. There was a pause and then his eyes narrowed a little at Naruto. "But he is an intruder. Shouldn't he be, at the least, imprisoned?" Another pause ensued. When Orochimaru spoke again, it was in inaudible, secretive whispers. Occasionally he glanced up at Naruto, his lips a thin line of disapproval.

"I've been ordered by our Kage to release you, Konoha nin. Even though I _hate _Konoha for sympathizing with the Canadians in this great ninja war," Orochimaru said after temporarily disabling the device and slipping it back in its place.

_At least I'm still part of Konoha, or whatever it is right now, _Naruto thought, feeling a smidgeon of relief. Then it suddenly dawned on him that, from Orochimaru's words 'great ninja war.' Shit. It wasn't like Naruto had just _left _a great ninja war, and now, in this world another one was taking place. This meant he definitely couldn't give up on the Kyuubi's new Jinchuuriki. If he was about to give up before, Orochimaru's words only provided more fuel to the desire to achieve his goal.

"I'm still taking Stan with me," Naruto said under his breath. It was irrational, foolish, and downright illogical – but he hardly cared. After being the Kyuubi's host for so long and remembering being shunned and alienated, he could empathize with this boy. Also, Stan's experience with his demon reminded him of Gaara. "I made a promise and I always keep them!"

"Fuck, this guy's stubborn," Wendy muttered under her breath. "Don't you get it? We can't risk letting this freak go with you because he'll _kill _innocent people. South Park is the only place that was built with underground shields with material to withstand the Kyuubi's powerful chakra; you won't be so lucky anywhere else."

Sadly, of all the things that had been said to Naruto this night, that made the most sense. But his ninja way was to never give up or back down on his words. He had made a promise to Stan and he was going to stick by it.

_South Park is the only place that was built with underground shields…_ The words ran through Stan's head over and over again. He had lost control of himself several times in the scant half hour or so he had been in this world; he knew what the Kyuubi would do if the beast took control of him outside the walls of South Park. The best thing he could do was stay at this place where people were safer and learn how to suppress the monster inside him. It would be hard, especially since so far, everyone in South Park thought _he _was the Kyuubi. At least, he knew there was someone in this sick world who sympathized with him.

"The only time we're able to send him on missions outside South Park is when we're making an attack on warring countries. A team of shinobi who know how to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra follows close beside him, and even then six or more lives are sacrificed when he gains seven or eight tales. It wouldn't matter so much if it was only the Kyuubi, but this guy thrives on the Kyuubi's bloodlust. We've even made several attempts to assassinate him," Kyle said, the longest Naruto had heard him talk.

From beside Naruto, Stan stiffened as though he was hearing this for the very first time, even though it was something no one could've forgot. To Stan, this nightmare he had found himself in only continued to darken. If this was a dream he would be able to wake up from it, wake up from it and go to school as a normal eight-year-old boy in a small, redneck town, and play his Okama Gamesphere. But it wasn't a dream, which meant all those things he had done were _real_.

Snippets of memories alien to his mind ran through Stan's head, memories of walking through fields of dead and dying Canadians, could hear their hoarse gasps for either mercy, water, or defiance for South Park. Several strangers had surrounded him as though keeping their favorite pet on a loose chain. Stan watched the flashback with the detachment of looking through someone else's eyes – the psyche was disturbed and chaotic, a mind driven insane by the raw hate and lonely existence that had been forced on him…

Stan was brought back to the present. Not only did he have this older body, and lived in an alternate time, but he now had the knowledge that he carried inside him hauntingly familiar memories of living an empty existence.

Unknown to Stan was the fact that Naruto, too, was remembering something that had happened in the past. But Naruto was remembering something that had happened in the world he had come from, and, to be more precise, he was remembering the words a certain person had said after nearly killing one of his friends in a hospital. He could still hear the horrible words Gaara had spoken, a chill running down his spine as he knew this boy was in the exact same position:

"_To them I am simply an object of the past that they wish would disappear. Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I thought about this I could find no answer. But as you live you need a reason, otherwise it's the same as being dead."_

The puzzling thing, was that this boy, while he reminded Naruto of Gaara, didn't have the same killing intent in his eyes. If anything, this boy was reacting as though he had only now discovered he was possessed by the Kyuubi and that he had lived in a vicious cycle of violence and hatred. Naruto's eyes widened; surely this guy would remember this, so why was he acting as though he was hearing everything for the first time?

"You see, Konoha-nin, how impossible it would be to let our Jinchuuriki outside freedom," Orochimaru added. He yawned, bony white fingers covering a broad, wide mouth. Suddenly, his mouth slammed shut on the hand, the red blood that oozed from the self-inflicted wound pooling around white teeth and dripping in crimson beads to splatter on the ground. Orochimaru pulled his hand away from his mouth, staring with boredom at the injury. "I grow tired of looking at you, Konoha-nin. Had our Kage not contacted me to let you go back to your village, I would have killed you by now. Leave before I decide to go against my orders."

Naruto heard Stan exclaim something under his breath, horrified and startled by the Snake Sannin's icy calm words in contrast to his insanity. Either that or by the sickening sight of Eric Cartman giving his sensei an adoring, almost worshipful look in his brown eyes.

_South Park wanted to kill Stan, but they made this _freak_ lead a Genin team?_ Naruto had thought this Orochimaru would be different, but was a deranged psychopath like before.

"Looks like I have no choice," Naruto said. He may be a stubborn fool, but he knew how powerful Orochimaru was and that he had reached negotiation limits; the crimson splatters on the roof shingles proved that point. He would just have to think of another way to reach Stan. _If you expect me to just give up and go away, you're wrong._ He didn't say it aloud; Orochimaru would more than likely alert the Kage he served and the security around the village would be tightened. Before then, he would also have to gain help from Gaara, if nothing else.

And just like that, Stan Marsh watched the one person who sympathized, who understood him, leap away like a frog until he was long gone. He had wanted to know more about Naruto – something told Stan this guy wasn't from here, but from another reality. Until they met again, Stan decided the best thing to do was to _survive _the harshness of this world to his best abilities, to learn to control his new powers, and to prove himself by doing so. If he met with Naruto again, they could together find a way out.

Otherwise they would be trapped for who knows how long in this other world.

He didn't want to know what would happen if he stayed here too long.


End file.
